The Rent Stress Index is a custom metric designed to highlight where renters may be facing the greatest financial strain. It combines several key factors that affect housing affordability and stability:
Median Rent: Higher rents increase financial pressure on households.
Rent Burden: The share of renters spending more than 30% of their income on rent — a common threshold for housing affordability.
Rental Vacancy Rate: Lower vacancy rates mean fewer available units, driving up competition and limiting renter mobility.
Each of these indicators is standardized and averaged to produce a single Rent Stress Index score. A higher index value suggests more difficult housing conditions for renters in that area. This index helps surface not just where rent is expensive, but where the broader rental environment may be especially challenging for working families and low- to middle-income renters.
Source: ACS 2023